SAN ANTONIO — It happened early inside the cool, darkened cineplex, before Vin Diesel even had a chance to turn superhuman, as people sat munching popcorn and sipping sodas in their plush recliner seats.

Someone coughed.

If anyone seated nearby was alarmed, no one showed it. The cough sounded muffled: The moviegoer was wearing amask — part of the recommended etiquette of going to the movies in the middle of a pandemic.

On Saturday, three movie theaters in the San Antonio area became some of the first in the country to reopen, a move that worried some infectious-disease experts but was applauded by those who bought tickets and went to the show.

Santikos Entertainment opened three theaters, offering discounted prices, a limited food menu, workers inmasks and greeters who opened doors as people entered, limiting contact with door handles.

The theaters were showing older releases for $5, and at the Palladium, in an upscale shopping center called the Rim, business was steady — low for a Saturday in May, but higher than what might be expected in a state still grappling with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed nearly 900 people,48 of them inBexar County, which includes San Antonio.

Texas took a big step out of its coronavirus lockdown on Friday, allowing restaurants, malls, retail stores and some other businesses to resume operations, with strict limits on the number of patrons allowed inside.

Movie theaters, like restaurants, were allowed to seatonly 25 percent of their listed capacity.

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In line at the Palladium Cinema in San Antonio on Saturday. Face masks were recommended but not required.Credit...Christopher Lee for The New York Times

Grady McClung and his wife Rachel went to the 1:10 p.m. showing of the Christian movie “I Still Believe” at the Palladium, each wearing amask.

“Yesterday was my birthday, so I got the first two tickets for the first opening of the first movie in the first movie theater,” said Mr. McClung, 51, a project manager for a telecommunications company who lives in nearby Boerne. “There’s about 12 seats in a 150-seat auditorium. We’re well spaced out.”

To sit in a theater with dozens of strangers was a walk on the wild side of public health. But as the movies played and the plots thickened amid the crunch-crunch of patrons chewing popcorn, Hollywood was doing what it has done for decades: providing an escape, albeit masked and at a distance.

Mr. McClung and others at the theater said that before buying their tickets they had researched the steps the company was taking to keep people safe and were satisfied that they were not putting themselves at risk. Going to the movies, some of them said, brought back a touch of much-needed normality after weeks under quarantine.

“If you feel like you have fear, then that’s perfectly fine, and you don’t go out,” Mr. McClung said. “But other people need to get their lives back. We didn’t go to movies all the time. I mean, probably five or six a year. But this was something that was right for now.”

At the afternoon showing of the Vin Diesel action-adventure flick “Bloodshot,” moviegoers kept their distance, sitting two, three or four seats apart. Some woremasks, and others wore them in the lobby buttook them off in the auditorium to eat popcorn.

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Grady and Rachel McClung in the parking lot of the Palladium Cinema. “If you feel like you have fear, then that’s perfectly fine, and you don’t go out,” Mr. McClung said.Credit...Christopher Lee for The New York Times

In Row F, the company mistakenly put three guests in F1, F2 and F3, nearly elbow to elbow. F2 moved down to F7 to ensure social distancing.

Tim Handren, the chief executive of Santikos Entertainment, said the company was taking the safety of both employees and customers seriously and was going beyond the state’s health requirements.

“We are following, we believe, the best guidelines that we can to open safely,” Mr. Handren said in a YouTube message to the public.

Masks were recommended, but not required, for customers. In the lobby of the Palladium, a masked worker askedcustomers as they entered whether they or anyone they had been in contact with had experienced fever, chills or other symptoms in the past 14 days. Signs warned that if the answer was yes, they would not be allowed to enter and the cost of their tickets would be refunded.

Cashiers stood behind plexiglass shields. At least 75 percent of the seats in each auditorium were left unsold. Many doors were left open so people did not have to touch them. The arcade games were shut down, and no cash was accepted — those with cash exchanged their bills forgift cards.

“We’re trying to minimize the number of touch points, where you could be interacting with, touching, things that we don’t need you touching, or our employees,” Mr. Handren said in the video.

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A staff member cleaning up after a movie at the Palladium on Saturday.Credit...Christopher Lee for The New York Times

The company had asked employees if they were comfortable returning to work before reopening, Mr. Handren said, and “our employees have resoundingly said, ‘We want to come back.’” Santikos had furloughed employees and had kept its theaters closed for more than 40 days.

Mr. Handren said that the company would probably notmake money off the low-capacity showings but that it recognized that people needed to get out of their houses and “just go somewhere else.”

That said, business was brisk: By the early evening, the Palladium had sold 800 tickets and was still getting walk-up customers.

Infectious-disease experts said they worried that the decision by Gov. Greg Abbott to include movie theaters in the first phase of the state’s partial reopening was risky.

Frequently Asked Questions and Advice

Updated June 5, 2020

How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

How can I protect myself while flying?

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

Should I wear a mask?

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

What should I do if I feel sick?

If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

“You’re not going to catch me at a theater any time soon,” said Dr. Diana Cervantes, an expert in infection prevention and control who is an assistant professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, a medical school in Fort Worth.

“When you think of what aids transmission, it is going to be the type of contact you have with the person who’s infected, the length of time, proximity — all of those factors come into play. The amount of time starts to be a little too prolonged for me to be sitting there with a bunch of strangers.”

Joe Garcia, 74, a retired military chaplain in a camouflagemask, said he had no health concerns. He printed out a copy of the theater’s safety procedures and brought it with him.

He and his family have a long-running tradition: Once a week, they bring his 41-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy, to the movies, one of her major social outings. The tradition had been put on hold during the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr. Garcia, his daughter and his other daughter, Karla Ross, 51, went to the 4:10 p.m. showing of “I Still Believe.”

It was the first time in six weeks that Mr. Garcia, who lives in Blanco, had seen Ms. Ross, who lives in San Antonio, because Mr. Garcia’s age makes him more vulnerable to the virus than others.